“My favourite animal to see in photographs is the jaguar. In the Amazon, the jaguar is such a symbolic animal. It’s the largest cat in all of the Americas. They’re found in South America, particularly in the Amazon and also the Pantanal. It’s so beautiful visually.

Unfortunately, people still hunt and kill it. It’s a different situation from countries in Africa where sometimes it’s legal to kill big cats, like lions. In the Amazon, it’s illegal to kill jaguars, but still there is a lot of hunting. And people kill jaguars for no reason. Jaguars have also lost a lot of their natural habitat, of course.

I’ve never seen one in the wild. I’ve seen its relative, the cougar. Twice when I worked in the Amazon I faced that cat. But not yet a jaguar. I’ve seen many jaguars but never in the forest. I would love to see one. It’s such an impressive and iconic animal.”

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My Big 5

My Big 5: Jaguar
Golden Lion Tamarin
Armadillo
Guara wolf
Anaconda